Dinner dates and milk runs raise questions
What's an unfair advantage and what's savvy campaigning? That line is blurred between Jokowi and Prabowo-Gibran
Hello friends!
After a few stops and starts this newsletter is back! I think the problem is I’ve spent too much energy trying to emotionally prepare for a run-off that I forgot about the actual vote on Feb. 14. Of course, Prabowo Subianto and Gibran Rakabuming Raka are feeling so good we may not even need it (I still think we will, based on vibes and delusional thinking). We’ll see.
Anyway, let’s catch up on the news of the last few weeks.
Don’t forget to join us over at
for a look at the whole region.Erin Cook
Debates! Debates! Debates!
I’ve missed a few of the debates in these pages, it’s true. I think they’re mostly boring and, when there’s little difference in policy ideas, not useful. Especially last night on foreign policy, security and defence which, like most countries, is not particularly partisan or dramatically different across the spectrum of candidates. It is, of course, Prabowo Subianto’s special interest area BUT he is the incumbent defence minister so what do you say beyond ‘more of the same, terima kasih’?
We have to touch on it but I have nothing to add. Here’s the Jakarta Post live blog, which was great!
Boys night
Is it reasonable for President Jokowi to sit down with Prabowo Subianto over dinner? Sure, Prabowo is a minister in his cabinet but he’s also the lead candidate. If there’s nothing dodgy, then where’s everyone else’s invite? The duo sat down for a feed at Central Jakarta’s Seribu Rasa (the things that chain can do to a fish is an art form) Friday night and everyone spent the weekend weighing in.
"Jokowi, as head of state and head of government, must remain neutral, but as an individual, he has the right to decide which candidate he supports," Habiburokhman, deputy chair of Prabowo’s campaign and a Gerindra cadre, told the Jakarta Post yesterday. Come on, says PDI-P ethics board chair Komarudin Watubun said: “The President must set an example and be a role model to the state apparatus. The 2024 general election will determine where Indonesia will go in the future.”
It’s certainly hurt the feelings of candidate Ganjar Pranowo, who this time a year ago looked like he’d walk it in with the support of Jokowi. “It would be better if it was made clear by saying, 'Yes, I’ve taken a side’. The important thing is that there should be no abuse of authority, power so that everyone will be able to compete fairly,” the Central Java Governor said over the weekend.
That’s interesting, isn’t it? With everything else that happened last year, especially that business with Anwar Usman and the Constitutional Court, it’s now that everybody is getting more explicit with what they mean.
No crying over free milk
Tut tut, says Bawaslu, the electoral supervisory board, after Gibran spent a Sunday morning in December handing out milk to Jakartans during the city’s weekly Car Free Day event. There are enormous signs everywhere saying no political activities of any kind can take place at the event, a decision made in 2016 in (I believe) the lead-up to Jakarta’s gubernatorial election.
The would-be VP was hauled in for hours of questioning over the breach last week but denies any wrongdoing. It was simply a case of a private citizen handing out freebies to people who may or may not vote for him in two months! Get over it!
The tide is turning for Anies Baswedan
Here’s another bonkers thing to say that wouldn’t have made sense last January: there seems to be growing odds that the run-off will feature former Jakarta governor Anies Baswedan facing off with Prabowo, not Ganjar at all. So it’s beautiful timing that Stanley Widianto at Reuters would sit down with the candidate and chat more about what Anies wants for the country and what he brings to the table besides a third option.
“What we offer is change, returning civic life back to its track,” he told the wire. I think this is very interesting and understated. Despite Anies previously having served in the Jokowi cabinet, meaning Ganjar is the only candidate to not have done so, Anies has more distance from the current government to argue for real change. Prabowo and Ganjar are very much stuck with the ‘I’ll just do whatever Jokowi did’ policy and it’s hardly engaging.
We’ve talked a lot about the ‘moderation’ of Prabowo over the last year, but the ‘moderation’ of Anies has been spectacular and underexplored. Much was made of Anies having to reform and repent for the 2017 election that got him to Jakarta, but was deeply divisive and gross. Has he done it? And if he has, how? Because it seems like he hasn’t said anything about any of that, just chatted policy — and maybe that’s enough!
Further reading/listening
Labor Party’s Potentials and Contradictions in Indonesia (Continent of Resistance)
Partai Buruh, the Labour Party, is very, very interesting to me. Formed in 2021, this year’s elections will be the first big test but, as we know, getting a new party off the ground is difficult anywhere and seemingly even harder in Indonesia. Muhammad Ridha joined the hosts of this Asian Labour Review podcast to chat about the party and ooh it’s fascinating.
Defending the Year of Democracy (Foreign Affairs)
It’s a monster year for democratic elections, write Kat Duffy and Katie Harbath for Foreign Affairs. A staggering 4.2 billion people, or just over half the planet, will be voting in the months ahead. That includes 200 million odd Indonesian voters. The stakes (and coverage — good Lord, here come the Americans!) differ wildly across the planet, but there are challenges everyone will face.
Duffy and Harbath don’t focus on Indonesia but explore how AI and a slate of newer social networks could shape races for everyone. Fantastic piece that looks at these concerns and offers some handy, if ambitious, solutions.
A President’s Son Is in Indonesia’s Election Picture. Is It Democracy or Dynasty? (New York Times)
The paper of record in the US is very behind the ball with this piece on the dynasty building of Indonesia. Still, it’s a great overview and includes comment from Yoes C Kenawas, a research fellow at Atma Jaya University who has long studied dynasty politics in the country and has been busier than ever since the rise of Gibran: “It is clear that Jokowi is building a political dynasty,” Yoes told the NYT. And vice president isn’t the end goal, exactly. Call it a “period of apprenticeship” before a 2029 run.
Editorial: TikTok campaign season (The Jakarta Post)
Physically recoiling at watching (some) would-be leaders of the world’s fourth largest country on earth debase themselves online? Same. Take a look at the Philippines for where social media campaigning might be heading, the Jakarta Post says in this timely editorial.